The bigger they are, the harder they fall. That’s a concept that relates directly to Jack the Giant Slayer, in more ways than one. Bryan Singer‘s film, delayed from 2012 to 2013 for effects tinkering and (hopefully) a better release opportunity, opened to shrugs from audiences. Now the film is looking like it’ll be a big write-down for Warner Bros., New Line, and Legendary Pictures, to the tune of over $100m. All told, Jack might cost the companies up to $140m. Read More »

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In Jack the Giant Slayer, Bryan Singer engages in the time-honored tradition of taking a classic fairy tale and reshaping it to fit the times. Current trends being what they are, that means turning the film gritty and (relatively) realistic, with plenty of Lord of the Rings-style action.

Screenwriters David Dobkin and Darren Lemke take the basic touchstones of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk — the poor farm boy, the magic beans, the scary giants — but introduce several brand-new elements to the story. In this version, Jack (Nicholas Hoult) heads upward to rescue a beautiful princess (Eleanor Tomlinson) and stop her evil betrothed (Stanley Tucci) from taking over the kingdom. It’s a version of Jack that’s never been told in all the centuries that the character has been around. So why does it all feel so tiresomely familiar?

Bryan Singer‘s return to the X-Men franchise is interesting, especially after First Class proved that there is a hell of a lot of life left in the screen versions of the many mutant characters. But before Singer’s Days of Future Past hits, we’ll see Jack the Giant Slayer. And how does that film look at this point? Well, put it this way: if Singer didn’t have the resume he does, there would be a lot of people worried about Days of Future Past.

This is the latest trailer for Jack, and it shows off a lot of new footage. (Two clips below also expand a couple scenes.) And this definitely looks a bit better than it did when we originally saw a trailer over a year ago, before the movie was pushed back several months. But does it look like the movie you’d hope to see, with Singer tackling the old fairy tale of a young guy who fights giants?

With spring creeping up on us, a whole bunch of images have just been revealed for two very different high-profile releases. Bryan Singer‘s Jack the Giant Slayer is a CG-heavy fantasy epic based on the classic fairy tale, while Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines takes an atypical approach to the crime thriller genre.

In addition, we have a new still for Gore Verbinski‘s The Lone Ranger, which isn’t due out until summer but should be revealing a bit of new footage during this weekend’s Super Bowl. Check out all the pictures after the jump.

Bryan Singer‘s Jack the Giant Slayer has been done for so long, the director is already hard at work on pre-production on his next film. Something with “X” in the title. But while the fairy tale film, a heroic spin on Jack and the Beanstalk, has had release date shifts and its title changed, it will finally hit the big screen on March 1 with human stars Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy and Ewan McGregor.

As fellow humans, we pretty much know what those people look like. We aren’t going to go see Jack the Giant Slayer for Jack. We want to see giants, and those giants have now been given the spotlight in a brand new series of posters. That’s a glimpse above, check out the full set below. Read More »

2012 saw a couple of high-profile fairy tale releases, but the trend is really just getting started. 2013 has a couple such titles due out in just the first three months, including Tommy Wirkola‘s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters in January and Bryan Singer‘s Jack the Giant Slayer in March.

Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t promising non-fantasy movies due out as well. One we’re especially looking forward to is Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh‘s possibly final theatrical release. Check out new posters for all three films after the jump.

The big argument against Peter Jackson’s use of high frame rate technology for The Hobbit, when previewed months ago, was that the result didn’t look like “cinema.” Rather, it looks real, which, ironically, means it looks fake. The increased detail presented in the HFR projection made costumes and sets look like mere costumes and sets, said naysayers. The illusion of realism is destroyed by… actual realism.

Bryan Singer shot Jack the Giant Slayer on state of the art HD cameras — in part for the advantages they offer in low light scenarios, and for shooting 3D — and did not use HFR tech. And yet, this new trailer for the film, which should have the benefit of months of extra effects polish, doesn’t look very convincing at all. It’s not just the effects; the giants look fine, if overly indebted to Jackson. Rather, it’s the fact that none of the actors look like they are anything other than people dressed up in costume, and none of them look like they’re in the same world with the stuff around them. The effect isn’t good.

Bryan Singer‘s Jack the Giant Slayer (retitled from Jack the Giant Killer) may have been delayed by quite a while, and the subject of some suspicion via a vis the efficacy of the film’s visual effects. But with the film pushed to March 1, there’s a lot more time to make those effects work, and hopefully the not so hot stuff we saw in the first trailer will be improved thanks to the extra time allotted for post-production.

Singer tweeted two photos from mixing sessions for the new trailer that will debut in about a month, and one of them gives us a good look at the face of the giant that Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is facing. Check them out below. Read More »